Learning English with Beyoncé
Phrasal Verbs, Modals & More
Do you ever find yourself singing along to a song, only to realise you don’t know any of the words? Or, you know the words, but don’t actually understand what they mean?
We call the words of songs, ‘lyrics’. Here are just a few lyrics that can teach us about the English Language.
Today, we’re going to learn with Queen Bey, herself.
I woke up like this - Flawless
This is a great example of an irregular verb. ‘Woke’ is the past tense of ‘wake’, and ‘wake up’ & ‘woke up’ are also phrasal verbs.
If 'woke' is a verb, why is it always used as an adjective? Since the 1960s, ‘woke’ has been used to describe being knowledgeable about social and political issues, especially those related to racial injustices. It is used to suggest a person is ‘awake’ to injustice, or has their ‘eyes open’. In recent years, it is used to include broader awareness of various forms of social inequality and injustice. However, it is now often used as an insult, with some people suggesting ‘wokeness’ is ‘political correctness gone mad’.
I'm a survivor, I'm not gon' give up - Survivor
To ‘give up’, another phrasal verb, means to quit or stop trying. Beyoncé also uses "gon'", as a contraction of "going to". It's informal and often used in spoken English.
You might also see ‘gonna’ written as a contraction of ‘going to’, too.
This sentence structure I + am + not + verb-ing + to + verb can be used to talk about events you’re not going to do now, in the present, but also in the future, too.
I’m not going to do my homework (now)
I’m not going to do my homework (ever!)
Baby, you can drive my car - Drive
‘Can’ is a modal verb, used to express ability, permission, or possibility. Here, Queen Bey is giving permission.
Bey is allowing you / giving you permission to drive her car.
In this sentence, you see the verb after ‘can’ is ‘drive’ in infinitive form, and this is the structure we use when building sentences with modal verbs.
She can eat this pizza
You can go to China.
Modal verb + verb
If you struggle to use modal verbs, I’ll share a post soon on how to use them.
Hold up, they don't love you like I love you - Hold Up
‘Hold up’ is used here to mean wait, or stop. It’s an imperative, and imperatives are sentences that give commands, instructions, or requests.
They often start with the base form of a verb and do not usually have a subject, as it is implied to be ‘you’.
Imperatives are direct and to the point. Beyoncé uses it to grab attention.
You often see imperatives on signs -
Watch Out!
Stop!
Look Out!
Do Not Enter!
Close the Door!
Cause if you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it - Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
The "shoulda" is a contraction of ‘should have’, but the main thing about this lyric is the way Bey uses a conditional sentence.
Conditionals often use ‘if’ to talk about possible or imaginary situations. In this case, it's about a missed opportunity in the past.
Conditionals are hard! I’ll share a post soon about how to practice them more.